1) Field
The general inventive concept relates to an integrated bio-chip, a method of fabricating the same, and an apparatus for detecting bio-material. More particularly, the general inventive concept relates to an integrated bio-chip including an excitation light absorption waveguide used for spectroscopically detecting a sample, a method of fabricating the integrated bio-chip and an apparatus for detecting bio-material using the integrated bio-chip.
2) Description of the Related Art
Bio-chips typically have a structure in which cells, which include biogenic organic materials such as nucleotide or protein, are arranged on a substrate in a matrix shape. Bio-materials, fixed on the substrate of the bio-chip, operate as biological receptors for target bio-materials.
Bio-chips detect the target bio-materials via interaction between bio-materials, such as a hybridization reaction of a nucleotide, or an antigen-antibody interaction, for example. The bio-chips may be used to research functions of genes, to search for illness-related genes, to analyze gene expression or to analyze protein distribution by detecting the bio-materials such as nucleotide or protein having a specific sequence.
The interaction between the bio-materials may be detected using a fluorescence detection method. More specifically, the fluorescence detection method is a spectroscopic method of detecting fluorescent images by irradiating a predetermined excitation light on fluorescent materials tagged on the bio-materials. The fluorescent images are detected using an optical scanning apparatus such as a photo-multiplier-tube (“PMT”), a charge-coupled device (“CCD”) scanner or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (“CMOS”) image sensor (“CIS”) scanner, for example.
The fluorescence detected by irradiating the predetermined excitation light onto the fluorescent material tagged on the bio-materials is much weaker than the irradiated excitation light, and thus, it is desired to remove the excitation light. In addition, current detection apparatuses use a scanner-type photodetector that is complex and expensive, and thus, there is a need for a compact bio-chip and a detection apparatus having the same.